A Song of Ice and Fire: Game of Thrones
The Doom of Valyria, often called the Doom, was a cataclysm of an unspecified nature that caused the collapse of the Valyrian Freehold, which had been prospering for five thousand years. It occurred approximately a century before Aegon's Conquest of Westeros, in 114 BC. Spells, knowledge, and recorded history were lost in the Doom, and the Century of Blood followed the disaster. Only the Targaryens are truly known to have survived, however tales of the Blood of Valyria still stands strong and a threat continues to grow. The dragons are all dead. The last dragons—those that flew and exhaled fire—perished one hundred and fifty years ago. But the family Targaryen, who had come out of the ruin of Valyria to Westeros three centuries past on the backs of dragons, who had united seven squabbling kingdoms under the Iron Throne, whose emblem was a threeheaded dragon, and whose words were Fire and Blood, those dragons died only recently. Aegon the Conqueror set foot on Westeros three hundred years ago, along with his sisters Visenya and Rhaenys. Together, they were the three heads of the dragon. They arrived on the backs of Vhaghar, Meraxes, and Balerion—the true dragons—and they laid waste to all who opposed them. Some, like Torrhen Stark, the last king in the North, bent the knee. Others, like King Mern of the Reach and King Harren the Black, burned. For three centuries, the Targaryens united the kingdoms of Westeros under one rule, despite many tumultuous upheavals. The Targaryens survived their own civil war between brother and sister, known as the Dance of the Dragons, where Viserys I's daughter Rhaenyra and his son Aegon nearly tore the realm apart with their dragons. The Targaryen dynasty would also survive the Blackfyre Rebellion of Aegon IV's bastards, the conquering and later marriage of Dorne into their kingdom, the invasion in the North of the King-beyond-the-Wall, and the War of the Ninepenny Kings. The Targaryen reign lasted until King Aerys II ascended to the throne. Known as the Mad King, he would usher in the fall of the dragons. Aerys II was torturously cruel and violently insane. He saw enemies in every shadow and turned his subjects against him through inhumane acts of despotic power. In the end, Robert Baratheon of Storm's End led an uprising against the king after Crown Prince Rhaegar Targaryen abducted Robert's betrothed, Lyanna Stark. Known as the War of the Usurper, or Robert's Rebellion, Robert united many of the great houses behind his cause, including the houses Arryn, Stark, and Tully. Robert Baratheon slew Crown Prince Rhaegar on the banks of the Trident. King Aerys, in desperation, opened the gates of King's Landing to the armies of his former Hand, Lord Tywin Lannister, who immediately betrayed his king and set his forces to sack King's Landing. Tywin's son, Ser Jaime, an honored knight of the Kingsguard, murdered the king he had sworn to protect and has been known ever since as the Kingslayer. It is now the reign of Robert Baratheon, the First of his Name, King of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, and Protector of the Realm. He is married to Lord Tywin Lannister's golden daughter, Cersei, and they have three golden-haired children: Crown Prince Joffrey, Princess Myrcella, and Prince Tommen. The only surviving Targaryens, Prince Viserys and his younger sister Daenerys Stormborn, hide in lands far to the east in the lands of Essos where the Blood of Valyria still is strong. Years later the Greyjoy's Rebellion or the Greyjoy Rebellion was an attempt at secession by Balon Greyjoy against the Iron Throne in 289 AC, nine years before the beginning of A Game of Thrones. Balon tried to break away from the Seven Kingdoms to secure independence for the Iron Islands and restore the Old Way, lost almost three hundred years before, during Aegon's Conquest. The rebellion was crushed and Balon was forced to surrender, cementing the hold of King Robert I Baratheon on the Iron Throne. = Westeros = Westeros is a continent located in the far west of the known world. It is separated from the continent of Essos by a strip of water known as the Narrow Sea. Most of the action in Game of Thrones takes place in Westeros. Author of the series George R.R. Martin has stated that the continent of Westeros is roughly the same size as the real-life continent of South America. Almost the entire continent, barring only the lands in the furthest north beyond the Wall, is ruled by a single political entity known as the Seven Kingdoms, which holds fealty to the King of the Andals and the First Men, who sits on the Iron Throne in the city of King's Landing. The terms "Seven Kingdoms" and "Westeros" are normally used interchangeably. People or things from Westeros are referred to as "Westerosi". |-|The Crownlands= Ruled directly by the King on the Iron Throne from the city of King's Landing in the Red Keep, the largest city in Westeros and the capital of the Seven Kingdoms. Bastards of noble birth born in the Crownlands take the surname "Waters". Other notable townships of the Crownlands include Duskendale and Rosby. The Crownlands stretch along the shores of Blackwater Bay and also across several islands in the Narrow Sea, such as Dragonstone, Driftmark and Claw Isle. The islands are separately administered from Dragonstone. The Crownlands were never a kingdom prior to the Conquest, control of the region having fluctuated between various neighboring kingdoms throughout history. |-|The North= Ruled by House Stark from the castle of Winterfell. Bastards of noble birth born in the North take the surname "Snow". The principal port and city of the North is White Harbor. The North is the largest of the regions of Westeros but also the most sparsely-populated, due the harshness of the long winter. The North also includes the Wall and the lands administered by the Night's Watch, which are technically independent but are almost always thought of in conjunction with the North. |-|The Vale of Arryn= Ruled by House Arryn from the castle of the Eyrie. Bastards of noble birth born in the Vale take the surname "Stone". The principal port and city of the Vale is Gulltown. The Vale is dominated and mostly covered by the Mountains of the Moon and its offshoot chains. Its borders are prowled by hostile hill tribes. |-|The Riverlands= Ruled by House Tully from the castle of Riverrun. Bastards of noble birth born in the Riverlands take the surname "Rivers". The principal ports of the Riverlands are Seagard, Saltpans and Maidenpool. Notable towns include Stoney Sept. The Riverlands are dominated by the mighty River Trident and its numerous tributaries, including the Tumblestone. The Riverlands, lying close to the center of the continent, have been the site for battles and conflicts throughout the history of Westeros. Once an independent kingdom, they were overrun by the ironborn a century before Aegon's invasion and are thus not counted as an eighth kingdom, despite their significant size and population. The Riverlands are, as their name suggests, one of the most fertile and populous regions in Westeros, which is in many ways the only reason they have been consistently able to recover from the frequent wars that cross their borders. |-|The Westerlands= Ruled by House Lannister from the castle of Casterly Rock. Bastards of noble birth born in the Westerlands take the surname "Hill". The principal city and port of the Westerlands is Lannisport. The Westerlands are noted for their hills and low mountains which are rich in silver and gold, providing House Lannister and their vassals with immense wealth. |-|The Iron Islands= Ruled by House Greyjoy from the castle of Pyke on the island of the same name. Bastards of noble birth born on the Iron Islands take the surname "Pyke". The major islands of the chain are Great Wyk, Old Wyk, Harlaw, Blacktyde, Orkmont, Saltcliffe and Pyke itself. The Iron Islands are rain-lashed and cold, home to a hardy, warrior race known as the Ironborn. They live for warfare and reaving, and are the most troublesome and rebellious of the Iron Throne's subjects. |-|The Stormlands= Ruled by House Baratheon from the castle of Storm's End. Bastards of noble birth born in the Stormlands take the surname "Storm". The Stormlands include several offshore islands, most notably Estermont and Tarth. It ranks moderately among the other regions in terms of population and wealth. The Stormlands are wracked by frequent storms off the Narrow Sea, and experience significant rainfall. The Stormlands are also one of the most densely wooded areas in Westeros, particularly south of the Neck. It contains not only the Rainwood (which covers the southern half of the Stormlands), but also shares much of the Kingswood (spilling across the northern border with the Crownlands). As a result, its climate is in general that of a temperate rainforest. |-|The Reach= Ruled by House Tyrell from the castle of Highgarden. Bastards of noble birth born in the Reach take the surname "Flowers". The principal city and port of the Reach is Oldtown, the second-largest city of Westeros. The Reach is the second-largest region of Westeros and by far the most fertile and populous, allowing the Tyrells to field vast armies and also results in them being wealthier than any other family but the Lannisters. The Reach also includes several offshore islands, such as the Shield Islands and the Arbor. |-|Dorne= Ruled by House Martell from the castle of Sunspear. Bastards of noble birth born in Dorne take the surname "Sand". The principal ports of Dorne are Sunspear itself and the Planky Town at the mouth of the Greenblood. The people of Dorne are isolated from the rest of Westeros by the Sea of Dorne and the Red Mountains, giving them a greater sense of national identity than most of the other peoples of the Seven Kingdoms, even more than the ironborn and the Northmen. Since Robert's Rebellion and the murder of several prominent Dornish nobles during the Sack of King's Landing, the Dornish have pursued a more isolationist path. |-|Beyond the Wall= A vast, snow-covered wilderness independent from the Iron Throne and separated from the Seven Kingdoms by the Wall. It is inhabited by tribes of people known as wildlings, who often attempt to raid along the Bay of Seals or the Bay of Ice or climb over the Wall for the same purposes. = Directory = Characters * Lord Scotia Bane * Will Jarmon * Lilith Hirudo = Factions =